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Whether you think it is good, bad or indifferent, Brad Anderson's killer thriller The Call will not change Halle Berry's ranking as a movie star. Her career, once so brilliant, is now tarnished.

The last time Berry co-starred in a film that at least generated heated conversations was in 2012, and she was only one among many name actors in the ensemble for the perplexing Cloud Atlas.

The last time Berry had a bona fide hit movie was in 2006, when she repeated her role as Storm in X-Men: The Last Stand. Some recent releases have been boxoffice disasters, including Movie 43, New Year's Eve, Frankie & Alice and Things We Lost in the Fire. Berry's next hit may turn out to be X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014.

The last time she generated rave reviews was in 2006, when she starred in Darnell Martin's TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. Berry earned multiple nominations, including in the Emmy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Image Awards and the Black Reel Awards. But she lost in every case.

The last time -- the only time -- the Academy Awards noticed her was in 2002, when she won as best actress for her controversial but courageous work in Marc Forster's Monster's Ball. That racially charged drama sparked an intense debate for its social politics, but no one doubted the quality of her performance. Plus Berry did what her heroine, Dorothy Dandridge, could not do in an earlier era. Dandridge was the first woman with African-American heritage to even be nominated as best actress, for Carmen Jones (1954). Berry, the daughter of a bi-racial couple, finally broke the colour barrier by winning this prestigious Oscar category.

So what happened to the enormous promise and excitement that accompanied Monster's Ball?

The Cleveland-born Berry is older, of course. Yet, even at 46 the former beauty queen and model is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, a stunner on red carpets and on the silver screen.

Despite personal difficulties -- the hit-and-run misdemeanour charge in 2000, two failed marriages and a bitter custody fight with former lover Gabriel Aubry, a Quebecois model -- Berry is still well regarded by the public and media. In my own interviews with her, Berry has always been personable and intelligent. She also has a famously self-deprecating sense of humour.

Berry is one of the few performers ever to show up to get one of those insulting Golden Raspberry Awards, in her case as worst actress for Catwoman. "When I was a kid," Berry said while holding up her Oscar and her Razzie, "my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner."

But a sense of humour, beauty and personality is obviously not enough to keep winning: Halle Berry's career has stalled. The real problem is the mediocrity of so many of her movies. While she has taken risks, they have often turned out to be the wrong ones. Berry needs another Monster's Ball, another showcase role.

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES

Life of Pi

After Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee figured out how to film the unfilmable -- Canadian author Yann Martel's epic adventure tale of a young man crossing an ocean in a life raft with a tiger -- his film was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning four. Lee's masterwork is a wondrous thing to behold as it tells a story of a teenager's struggle with faith and survival. The new combo pack, with DVD, Blu-ray and digital copy, reveals how Lee found the story's heart and transposed Martel's visionary novel into a remarkable film.

Rise of the Guardians

As a fairytale animation, Peter Ramsey's film conjures Jack Frost, Santa Claus & friends as they battle Pitch Black, the harbinger of evil. The stakes are high: maintaining the joyful innocence of children. While the story is relentlessly devoted to action and humour, it looks fantastic. For background, the new combo pack -- with DVD, Blu-ray and digital copy -- introduces us to American author William Joyce, whose series The Guardians of Childhood inspired this movie.

Hitchcock

With Anthony Hopkins as a convincing Alfred Hitchcock, and Helen Mirren equally capable as his wife Alma Reville, Sacha Gervasi's biopic is realistic and convincing. Especially in showing how they developed Psycho as a masterpiece of horror. But it remains just a curiosity piece for Hitch fans. The new combo pack, with DVD, Blu-ray and digital copy, introduces us to people who knew Mr. H and attest to the film's accuracy.

Willow

Ron Howard's 1988 fantasy adventure makes its high-definition debut in a lovely combo pack, with DVD, Blu-ray and fresh extras, among them Warwick Davis' intriguing memories of the rough production. While the movie's effects now look quaint, it looks splendid in this restored version.